College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Department of Religion
RELI 86 Religion & Medicine Homepage

Semester Project
RELI 86 Religion & Medicine

The world does not come divided into disciplines. Fortunately (or not!), one cannot opt out of certain experiences (or dimensions of those experiences) because you major(ed) in something else! Disciplines are analytical constructs – divisions that people make in order to focus on one aspect of a phenomenon. Each discipline embodies and enacts a perspective that is variously situated in the world: through the lenses of its major concepts, you can see some things, but you also are prevented from seeing others. In human knowing, there is always a blind spot. As we discussed on our first day of class when we read the excerpt from Nietzsche on perspective seeing, the task of an educated person is to be aware of the pros and cons of various perspectives, and to craft these disciplinary pros and cons into an integrated repertoire of skills.

Like the rest of our class, this project is designed to help you do this! You will pick ONE object of overlap between medicine and religion: for example, the way that Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to do blood transfusions; the way that orthodox Jews decline autopsy; or the way that some Buddhists do not recognize brain and heart death as complete death, and do not want the bodies of a loved one moved until their loved person is fully dead.

You will research that object through multiple perspectives, delineated below.

Then you will synthesize the different disciplinary perspectives that you acquired into a way (or ways) of making sense of a practice (or refusal of a practice). Your goal here is to develop a response that transcends any one particular discipline (or simply adds them one to the other) in favor of integrating  your various sources and kinds of knowledge so as to enable you to (at least try to) see alongside the religious practitioners in question.

Step One: Pick your topic! Due Feb 3
Worth 5% of your project grade.

There are several places to begin your research:
You could start with by reading Appendix 1 (Cultural Profiles) and 2 (Selected religions) of Geri-Ann Galanti’s Caring for Patients from Different Cultures (on reserve) and then go back and read whichever chapter speaks to your topic.

You could look through the Park Ridge Center’s Religious traditions and Health Care Decisions Handbook series (on reserve).

You could look on-line:
The Boston Healing Project’s global map:
http://www.bu.edu/bhlp/pages/country_index/index.htm
The Boston Healing Project’s bibliography for each tradition:
http://www.bu.edu/bhlp/pages/resources/bibliographies.htm
The Boston Healing Project’s Clinical Care resource page:
http://www.bu.edu/bhlp/pages/resources/cultural_competency/clinical.html
Religious Perspectives on Organ Donation:
http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt//how_to_become_a_donor/religious_perspectives/religious_perspectives.jsp

Step Two: General Orientation/ Literacy Due Feb 22
Worth 10% of your project grade.

Your task in this section is to read at least 2 ACADEMIC sources that introduce you to the religion in question. You are not looking for stuff about medicine yet! You are just trying to not be so ignorant about this particular religion. You will write a 4-5 page paper which summarizes the high points of what you learned. You must address:

1. General historical development: where it began and grew
2. Key Texts
3. Central beliefs and
4. Central practices

Step Three:  Specific Focus Due Mar 22
Worth 15% of your project grade

Your task in this section is to write a 5-6 page research paper in which you draw on at least 4 academic sources (books or articles; only 2 of these can be web-based) that enable you to focus on the particular realm of your topic. For instance, if you are thinking about a death practice, you want to research death and dying in this particular religion (and perhaps one more general source if you desire). If you are thinking about organ transplant, you might want to research how this particular religion thinks about death and the afterlife, but also how it thinks about personhood, its creation myths, and/ or central rituals that create community. If you are thinking about a specific disease, you might want to research how this religion understands illness, the creation of the body, ‘badness’ or misfortune, personhood. If you are thinking about HIV/AIDS, you might want to research how this religion understands sexuality. Your goal here is to begin exploring the cultural imaginaries that are at work in this particular religion, and that might inform medical decisions.

Requirement: You must use at least 3 different disciplines. (The easiest way to tell what discipline a source is to look up its author and see in what he or she got their degree. If you cannot figure this out (and yes, it is not always easy), I am more than glad to help!)
You must at least 4 academic sources; you are encouraged to use readings from class, but since I found those readings, I get the credit: you have to find 4 of your own!

Step Four:  Bull’s eye! Due April 28
Worth 15% of your project grade.

Now is when you get to explore the issues of your particular topic! You must have at least 5 resources. Be aware that you might need to be creative re your resources: Consider data bases in Anthropology, Sociology, Education, Psychology, Health, History, as well as Religion. You can also use interviews and websites (but for no more than 2 of your 5 resources). Your job here is not only to find and read 5 sources, but to write a 5 page paper in which you draw on those sources to help you make sense of the topic you chose.
You must use at least 3 different disciplines (the disciplines can be the same three as in Step Three, but the sources MUST be new).

Step Five: Final Form Due at the beginning of our designated Exam Period
Worth 10% of your project grade.

Now it is time for you to synthesize the preceding steps.
The simplest way to do this is to physically assemble each of the above papers into a binder, re-read them, discern one (or at most two) threads that run through each, and revise the papers accordingly, forming them into a whole.
But you can also be more creative! Maybe you want to do something practical with this knowledge, something where you help other people makes sense of this project. Possibilities include (but are not limited to): a web site (or a Wikki) that other students can add to; a presentation that you give to an interested group or organization; a video, poster, or piece of artwork.